It is nearly that time yet again when the anime industry unleashes a new volley of shows ranging from the solidly categorizable to the weird and obscure. As always, click through on the titles to see the official sites, with more art and the TV promos.

The premise: A 15-year-old girl is abandoned by most of her family and watches her mother commit suicide; then she is purchased by an inhuman sorcerer to be his slave, apprentice, and future bride.

Derivative factor: Manga adaptation

The buzz: The most-anticipated show of the season, thanks to some gorgeous art and the promise of well-integrated European mythology. Well, and the fact that the season is nearly empty of heavyweight franchises.

The premise: Two girls and their half-track motorcycle travel through a post-apocalyptic world.

Derivative factor: Manga adaptation

The buzz: Cute girls plus the apocalypse does not sound like something that adds up to a great show, but School-Live! showed us a couple years ago that it can really work if the characters are good enough.

The premise: Every twelve years, twelve zodiac-themed warriors fight each other for the chance to have a wish granted.

Derivative factor: Light novel adaptation

The buzz: This is by the author of the wildly popular Monogatari franchise, so anticipation levels tend to match opinions of his other work. He’s known for long talky scenes, which might not work so well in an action show, but also psychological twists that would.

The premise: A girl and her talking motorcycle travel an alternate world, never staying in the same place for more than three nights.

Derivative factor: Light novel re-adaptation

The buzz: The original Kino’s Journey adaptation was a cult classic, and with thirteen additional books in the series since then, there’s a ton of episodic material to pick and choose from. There’s every reason to believe this will be one of the best shows of the season.

The premise: The grandson of a famous wizard must fight his vampire teacher if he wants to go to space and make a name for himself.

Derivative factor: Manga adaptation

The buzz: This show’s predecessor, Negima!, had high expectations but was soon forgotten. This is said to be an altogether different story and much of the manga material will be skipped over, so who knows.

The premise: Three girls running a pop-up store defend Harajuku from aliens bent on cultural appropriation.

Derivative factor: “Inspired by” Western webcomic

The buzz: It’s getting a lot of attention for an unprecedented collaboration across three countries and an unusually high number of female staff members. Unfortunately, the question of whether it’ll actually be any good is trickier.

Premiere: October 4

As usual, there are also a few continuing adaptations that have been sampled here before. If you liked the previous ones, you’ll probably like these too.

Like last season, there aren’t a lot of obvious heavy hitters, but not a lot of obvious turkeys either. I’m curious how The Ancient Magus’ Bride compares to Uprooted, but I think the top of my list among the new shows is Kino no Tabi. Land of the Lustrous, Inuyashiki, and Anime-Gataris have particularly piqued my interest too. What are you looking forward to?